Flint native Terry Crews was an all-conference defensive end for Western Michigan and a professional football player in the NFL before becoming a Hollywood actor, starring in the likes of shows and films such as âAre We There Yet?â, âEverybody Hates Chrisâ, "The Expendables," and HBOâs âThe Newsroom.âCourtesy Photo

FLINT, MI -- A former Flint arts student and football star-turned-Hollywood
mainstay is coming home to help Genesee County hospital
patients feel more at ease.

Crews graduated from Flint Southwestern Academy and attended
the Interlochen Center for the Arts on an Art Excellence Scholarship. He later
attended Western Michigan, where he was an all-conference defensive end for the
school's football team. After playing six seasons in the NFL, he left the
league to focus on acting and fitness as new careers.

Ever since, he has become a recognizable Hollywood star in
TV shows such as "Are We There Yet?," "Everybody Hates Chris," and HBO's "The
Newsroom," along with the BET reality series "The Family Crews." He also stars
in the "Expendables" movies with Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, and is
the face of Old Spice's comical, award-winning "Small Is Power" advertising campaign.

His next acting endeavors are Netflix's reboot of the cult
classic TV show "Arrested Development" and an upcoming cop comedy on Fox with
Andy Samberg of "Saturday Night Live."

Roxanne Caine, vice president of the McLaren Foundation,
said that Crews' family ties to the hospital helped secure him as the evening's
host.

"His mother works for McLaren, so it's a McLaren connection.
She was very willing to make a connection to see if he'd be willing to come
out, and he was," Caine said. "He's very excited about the event and giving
back to this community."

Patricia Crews has worked at McLaren as a receptionist for 13 years. Often, she and and her husband (also named Terry) travel to see Terry in California, since that's an easier option with Terry's schedule and shuffling his wife and kids around.

Still, se said that her son has fond memories of how he was raised in Flint, and that his strong Christian upbringing likely contributed to why he would help the cause.

"He talks a lot about his upbringing in Flint, about how hard of a worker his father was. I was able to be a housewife for 30 years because he became one of the first black foremen at GM," she said. "...He had a very strict Christian upbringing. Jesus was a big part of our home."

Lange, Caine said, had already worked with Art Van, and was
engaged for the event through the furniture retailer's connections.

The Art Van showroom will be adorned with "Love Boat" decor and feature cocktails, food stations, cruise games, live entertainment by Terrence Lester
and music by the Simone Vitale Band.

Admission is $100. Art Van is allowing the free
use of its space and underwriting expenses, so all proceeds will benefit McLaren's
upcoming Hospitality House and "Nights of Hope" fund.

The McLaren Hospitality House will be a companion to the
new McLaren Proton Therapy Center, which is scheduled to open in late summer. The
center will be the first Michigan center to offer proton therapy treatment, the
"latest evolution in cancer treatment" that consists of nearly daily treatment
for seven to nine weeks, according to a press release. Often, the release
states, patients' limited resources hurt their ability to focus on healing.

That's where the Hospitality House comes in. The facility, scheduled
to open in July, will offer comfortable living spaces for patients and their
families.

"It's not a hotel. In some ways in feels like that, but it's
really a home. People live there," Caine said. "They have their own kitchen, their
own food, and the opportunity to connect w/others having a similar experience. One
of biggest benefits is that it goes beyond the clinical setting."

The house is under construction, and is scheduled
to open in early July. So far, Caine said that the sponsorships and ticket
sales for "Cruise for a Cause" have raised $76,000 for the Hospital House — part of
$3.8 million raised for the house in general.